Glowing clouds filled the sky, vast and magnificent like the Milky Way cascading downward. Even the sun hanging high in the heavens was eclipsed by the radiant light. More than half of Qingyang City was enveloped within it, and hundreds of thousands of citizens needed only look up to see the boundless rainbow glow.
"Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!"
"What is going on? The sky is completely full of glowing clouds! It's gorgeous!"
"Holy crap, this feels like a dream. Am I in a dream world right now? Can reality actually be this beautiful?"
"Which fellow Daoist has achieved immortality? Deliver me too! I'm willing to offer up all the money to my name—two thousand and five yuan and sixty cents!"
"Immortality my ass! It's probably some astronomical phenomenon, like a solar or lunar eclipse. Still, this is definitely my first time seeing the whole sky covered in glowing clouds like this. It's breathtaking! I'm taking a few photos to post on Moments."
"Whoa, I'm making a wish! I hope—"
"..."
Throughout Qingyang City, countless people were captivated by the glowing clouds, discussing and admiring them, snapping photos, or excitedly making wishes.
However, unlike ordinary citizens, Wang Guangming and the other emergency squad members were gripped by suspicion and alarm.
"The coverage of this thing is way too broad. It looks like our entire urban district is engulfed."
"Could it be a nightmare...?"
"Hiss, don't scare me! If this is a nightmare, how powerful would it have to be?! Even a Fierce-rank nightmare could hardly cover a whole city, could it?"
Seeing several team members debating in panicked tones, Wang Guangming waved his hand. "All right, stop jinxing us! This rainbow glow is so beautiful—it doesn't look like a nightmare no matter how you slice it. Have you guys never seen what nightmares look like? Forget magnificent glowing clouds—you'd be lucky if it didn't turn everything into a bloody horror show!"
Having said that, he paused for a moment before continuing, "Still, we need to make proper preparations. Tell everyone to stay alert and keep their spirits up. Even those resting at home on leave should keep a close eye on their surroundings to see if any abnormal incidents occur across the city beneath these glowing clouds. If anything is discovered, report it immediately!"
"Yes, sir!" everyone answered in unison.
Once everyone had dispersed to their respective duties, Wang Guangming tilted his head back, staring up at the rainbow glow blanketing the sky, and muttered under his breath, "I hope it really isn't a nightmare."
If it truly were a nightmare, it would have to be at least Fierce-rank, or even higher!
At that point, out of the hundreds of thousands of people in the city, how many could possibly survive?
At the thought of Qingyang City degenerating into a haunted domain of aberrations, a chill ran through Wang Guangming, and he silently prayed, *It shouldn't be a nightmare. Let it not be a nightmare...*
Inside Room 301, the instigator behind it all, Huang Tian, adjusted his breathing. Only after his realm had completely stabilized did he nod in satisfaction.
"Not bad. After so many days, I've finally achieved the Golden Core. Now my previous idea can be put into action."
That idea, of course, was to proclaim his name to the world. Then, responding to the resonance of those who spoke or knew his name, his divine consciousness would answer across all directions, sweeping away all the aberrations and demons in the mortal world.
As for how to broadcast his name to the outside world, that was simple—
With a shift of his thought, numerous voice lines crossed the void and arrived before him. Among them were several pitch-black voice lines, which undoubtedly originated from the Holy Light Society.
"As expected, the Holy Light Society hasn't abandoned the idea of killing me. This works out nicely—I can wipe them out at the same time."
His gaze shifted, his sight spanning a thousand li to take in a scene:
In the back mountains of a small town, within a rural manor estate, Jiang Yuanzhong, Vice President of the Holy Light Society, sat in a spacious courtyard alongside Fang Long, head of the External Affairs Division. The former spoke slowly: "We know far too little about that Huang Tian. Since we've already decided to eliminate him, we must probe his background beforehand."
Fang Long's brow furrowed tightly. "I will send men to Qingyang to conduct a thorough investigation, but I'm afraid it won't be easy to uncover anything very detailed. From what I know, he suddenly appeared in Qingyang. No, he's a Qingyang local who never had anything remarkable about him before. He was completely indistinguishable from an ordinary person, yet almost overnight, he became a Rank 3 dream expeller..."
Jiang Yuanzhong pondered for a moment. "Could it be that he concealed himself too well in the past? Mmm, that's unlikely too. If he were a Rank 1 dream expeller, he might have been able to hide it, but Rank 3 is utterly impossible. If nothing else, without joining any faction, he wouldn't even be able to gather or acquire the dream relics required for advancement...
"Bizarre! This person is far too bizarre, as if he sprang right out of a crack in a rock!"
Fang Long rubbed his chin and voiced his speculation. "Vice President, do you think he might have had a stroke of luck and obtained an extraordinarily special dream relic that allowed him to reach the heavens in a single leap?"
Jiang Yuanzhong paused.
A special dream relic?
What dream relic in this world could instantly elevate someone to rival a Rank 3 dream expeller?
His first instinct was to refute it, but upon further reflection, he realized it was indeed possible. There were many dream relics in the world, each granting different abilities upon fusion; perhaps there truly was a dream relic that allowed one to cross such thresholds in a single leap.
"A single dream relic enabling a mere mortal to wield the power of a Rank 3 dream expeller..." Jiang Yuanzhong's eyes burned with growing fervor. "If such a dream relic truly exists, we must obtain it! Even if it doesn't, we must capture him. I have a premonition that a tremendous secret is hidden on his person—a secret vast enough to shock the world!"
*Whoosh—*
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the air above the manor suddenly rippled like water, sending outward rings of waves as a phantom figure slowly emerged.
In an instant, the phantom expanded to thirty zhang tall, towering like a majestic mountain, its entire form shimmering with a clear, jade-like luster.
He wore an imperial robe woven of radiant light. Its sleeves were wide and billowed outward like spreading clouds, and faint starlight seemed to flicker across the fabric, as though a slice of the celestial vault had been draped over his shoulders. As high winds brushed past, the wide sleeves fluttered gently.
Yet most striking of all was the wheel of light behind his head.
The wheel of light manifested five colors and spanned several zhang in size: crimson, yellow, azure, white, and black. The five colors blended and transformed into one another in an endless, unceasing cycle.
As the wheel rotated, it emanated a profound, marvelous Dao resonance. The mysterious aura rippled outward, causing the vegetation across the mountains to bow low, and even the sunlight grew soft and sacred beneath the radiance of the five colors.
Standing between heaven and earth, this towering phantom became the very center of the world. Its presence was so towering, its majesty so brilliant, that it truly seemed like an immortal emperor or divine sovereign ruling over all domains!
"Wh-what is that?!!"
Inside the manor, from the ordinary patrol personnel to Fang Long and Jiang Yuanzhong, everyone froze in dazed disbelief.
In the surrounding town, the many citizens who caught sight of the phantom were equally dumbfounded.
"An immortal deity?!!"
"Holy shit! Holy freaking shit!"
"An immortal has descended to the mortal realm?! I knew it! I knew there were immortals in this world! This isn't just an ordinary planet—our world conceals countless gods, immortals, and demons! In the past, they stayed hidden from mortals for various reasons, but now they're descending! A great era is finally upon us!"
"I want to cultivate immortality! I want eternal life!"
"Immortal, take me with you! I seek the Dao with a sincere heart!"
Across the town, some stared wide-eyed and cried out in shock; others excitedly took photos, recorded videos, or even started livestreaming; still others dropped to their knees to kowtow and pray loudly. A myriad of reactions unfolded.
Inside the manor, Fang Long recovered from his daze a fraction of a second later, suddenly shouting in disbelief, "No, it's Huang Tian! He is Huang Tian!!"
His shout jolted everyone present awake. Jiang Yuanzhong looked up in horror—sure enough, the phantom's features were identical to Huang Tian's!
*Boom!!*
In midair, the figure formed from Huang Tian's divine intent offered no words, simply raising his right hand.
With palm turned upward, it seemed as though he held up half the sky in a dense haze of luminescence. Then, his palm flipped over and pressed downward!
The gigantic palm descended, seemingly slow yet impossibly swift. The air was violently compressed, rolling and surging outward in all directions. The light above the manor dimmed abruptly, as if the entire sky were collapsing!
"Run!! Run!"
Seeing the colossal hand blotting out the sun and sky, even Jiang Yuanzhong, a Rank 3 dream expeller, was seized with terror. He hastily channeled his dream relics, turning his body into a shadowy gray specter to flee beyond the palm's reach.
The others also employed their own methods, doing everything in their power to flee for their lives.
Yet this palm seemed to lock down space itself. Whether it was the Holy Light Society's Rank 1 and Rank 2 dream expellers or Jiang Yuanzhong himself, none could break free from the palm's crushing force. They slammed directly into the cascading five-colored brilliance, bashing their heads and spilling blood.
"Aaargh!!"
Jiang Yuanzhong roared in fury as blood sprayed from all seven facial apertures. Driving the numerous dream relics within his body to their absolute limit, black light enveloped his entire frame, and he crashed toward the five-colored light barrier like a black meteor.
*Buzz—*
Ripples spread across the barrier like water, yet it remained completely unscathed after absorbing his full-force strike. And by now, the colossal palm had already pressed down above his head.
"No!!!"
With eyes brimming with blood, he screamed in terror, and in the next instant, his entire body was obliterated into a cloud of bloody mist!
Not only him—Fang Long and the rest of the Holy Light Society members were all detonated in midair, plumes of blood mist bursting one after another like fireworks, macabre and grotesque.
*Crash!*
The giant palm's momentum remained unspent. Carrying peerless divine power, it slammed into the manor estate. The ground violently shuddered, domes collapsed, and beams, masonry, chandeliers—everything fell into ruin. Vast clouds of dust rose like dragons, filling the air with grit!
"Who dares violate our sacred society?!!"
Suddenly, from deep underground, an enraged roar resounded. Immediately afterward, the earth split open, dirt and stones rolled backward, and a figure surged out from the ruins.
The figure expanded rapidly in midair, ballooning into a colossus over a dozen meters tall in the blink of an eye.
His skin was rough and indigo, clad in a layer of scales. His muscles knotted like dragons and serpents, his head resembled that of a mandrill, and his wide nostrils snorted boiling white vapor. Sharp fangs reached down to his lower jaw, dripping foul-smelling mucus that hissed and corroded pits into the dirt and stones.
This was—an evil ghost yaksha!
President of the Holy Light Society, Yu Fengzhong—a veteran Rank 3 dream expeller. The numerous dream relics he had fused with allowed him to transform into a yaksha from classical strange tales, granting him strength that ranked among the world's very best!
Grasping a weathered bronze halberd in his right hand, Yu Fengzhong was about to bark a furious curse when his throat suddenly seemed clamped shut, choking off his words. He stared at the hundred-meter-tall phantom in midair, falling into stunned silence.
*Wh-what on earth is that?!*
Ever since nightmares descended upon the world, what grand spectacle had he not witnessed? Yet the scene before him still exceeded his wildest imagination.
A phantom a hundred meters tall, radiating an ethereal immortal aura, looking like an immortal deity descending upon the mortal realm!
Was this thing a true immortal, or some bizarre nightmare?!!
Yet regardless of what it was, he was certain he was completely outmatched. If a fight broke out, he would very likely perish. Thus, with a grave expression, he spoke, "I have no grudge with Your Excellency—"
Before he could finish, the phantom had already struck out with a palm, pressing down like a collapsing mountain and a falling sky!
Faced with this palm, Yu Fengzhong's scalp went numb, the stench of death filling his senses. With no time left to ponder why such a powerful entity existed in this world or why it was hostile toward the Holy Light Society, he threw his head back in a long howl as blood-red light erupted around him.
Grasping the halberd's shaft with both hands, his muscles bulged and his scales bristled.
*Buzz!!*
The halberd vibrated, churning up a black tornado that soared toward the sky. Within the vortex, countless evil ghosts could be seen thrashing and screeching, as if seeking to drag everything down into hell!
"Evil ghosts! There are actually evil ghosts in this world?!"
"If there are immortals, of course there are demons and aberrations!"
"No wonder the immortal descended—he came down to the mortal realm to slay evil!"
"To think such an evil ghost was hiding right beside our town! Thank goodness the immortal came!"
Watching the yaksha in midair, the townspeople cried out in succession.
At that moment, the giant palm collided fiercely with the black tornado, dazzling radiance exploding outward. The palm was delayed for barely a second before effortlessly shattering the black vortex and continuing downward!
"Spare m—"
The plea for mercy had barely left his lips when the giant palm came down upon Yu Fengzhong's head.
The moment contact was made, the yaksha's massive frame violently shuddered.
From head to chest, and from chest to limbs, scales shattered and flesh exploded. The yaksha, over a dozen meters tall, was blasted into a bloody mist just like that!
At the same time, divine light descended from the heavens, annihilating every single dream relic in the manor and converting them into pure spiritual qi that fed back into Huang Tian's body.
"The immortal won!"
"Evil cannot triumph over righteousness! With the immortal's vast divine abilities, of course he would win!"
"Thank you, Immortal, for slaying the demon for us!!"
"..."
In midair, Huang Tian withdrew his palm. Sweeping his gaze downward, he saw many people in the town either devoutly kowtowing or looking up at him with fervent, intensely excited expressions.
With a shift of his body, he climbed higher into the firmament. Standing with hands behind his back atop the drifting clouds, he circulated his spiritual qi. His voice carried across the boundless sky, heard clearly by countless people across thousands of li:
"Nightmarish aberrations plague the world, poisoning living souls. From within the Zhonghuang Yuanji Heaven, I heard the mournful prayers and manifested down in true form.
"All who suffer nightmare afflictions need only chant: 'Zhonghuang Taiyi, deliver the dark and light.' Once these eight characters are spoken, though separated by a thousand mountains, divine majesty shall descend to suppress and destroy all aberrations. The Heavenly Dao shines bright; Taiyi endures forever!"
With those words spoken, Huang Tian's phantom began to fade. The thirty-zhang-tall avatar of divine intent grew translucent, transforming into a sky full of motes of light. Fine as dust and crystal-clear, the motes drifted upward, dissolving into the clouds, merging into the endless, lofty firmament.
The imperial robe dispersed; the wide sleeves turned into light. The five-colored wheel of light behind his head trembled gently, its brilliance growing softer and dimmer until, with one final quiver, it dissolved into five ribbons of light of different colors. Like rainbows spreading in all directions, they trailed long wakes through the air before gradually vanishing from sight.
The last to dissipate were those eyes.
Those eyes, in which galaxies seemed to flow, slowly closed and turned into two motes of faint light. The faint light flickered once, like distant stars on a summer night blinking for the very last time, before extinguishing completely.
The phantom vanished entirely.
In the vast sky, only gentle breezes and light clouds remained, clear and pristine for ten thousand li—
Chapter 172